Lyr Add: A. R. U. (from Carl Sandburg)

Subject: Lyr Add: A. R. U. (from Carl Sandburg)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 May 22 - 08:21 PM

From The American Songbag by Carl Sandburg (New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1927), page 190-1:

A. R. U.

The American Railway Union strike of 1893, led by Eugene V. Debs, paralyzed traffic on railways of the Northwest. As the concerted stoppage of work began, not a wheel moved on thousands of miles of right-of-way; it was a terrific tie-up, a red chapter in American transportation history. The railway managers blacklisted A. R. U. men; strikers drifted to other railroads, got jobs under new names, were detected, dropped from the pay rolls, and again put “on the hog,” riding hog and cattle cars. These drifters made a song out of their grief. C. W. Loutzenhiser of Chicago met a brother A. R. U. man in the Illinois Central switchyards at Macomb, Mississippi; they held a little songfest; one song has verses flinging a switchman’s gauntlet into the face of Fate. It is a gay-hearted tune asking Lady Luck, in plain railroad slang, not to be too hard. “Go screw your nut,” in rail talk means, “Be on your way.” Railway lines alluded to here can be located at any railway station information desk; also hotel porters are ready to assist. R. W. Gordon gave me the verses[*] in Darien, Georgia, and sent me to Loutzenhiser in Chicago for the melody. A good man, with a brick-dust face and invincible Irish eyes, is Loutzenhiser. In the course of our acquaintance he made the casual remark, “The fellows that sing the songs I know have all gone where the Woodbine twineth and bejeez maybe I ought to go too.” He seemed a serene, self-contained soul, once laughing after singing a sweet Irish ditty, “I sing these songs to keep from goin’ bugs.”

Arr. H. F. P. [Musical notation is given here]

Been on the hummer since ninety-four,
Last job I had was on the Lake Shore,
Lost my office in the A. R. U.
And I won’t get it back till nineteen-two
And I’m still on the hog train flagging my meals,
Ridin’ the brake beams close to the wheels.

[* Unfortunately, there are no more verses in this volume!--JD]

Subject: Lyr Add: TO THE TRAINMASTER
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 May 22 - 08:46 PM

A search of Google Books turned up the following:

From The Conductor and Brakeman, Vol. 15, No. 5 (Cedar Rapids, Iowa, May, 1898), p. 359.

The following was handed us by one of the “profesh,” which may be of interest to some of the old-time “rocks” that have been through such waves of prosperity:

TO THE TRAINMASTER.

I have been on the “hummer” since ’94;
Last job I had was on the “Big Four.”
Lost my office in the A. R. U.,
And won’t get back ’till 1902.
Been all over the Texas plain;
Hit every “yard boss” and master of train.
Tried the Great Northern and the M. K. & T.,
The Gulf, Colorado, and Great Santa Fe.
But I’m still on the “swine run,” flagging for meals,
And riding the brakebeams, close to the wheels.
My clothes are all ragged and chuck full of stains,
And my long-tailed coat is faded from rains.
Now, I wish I had my old office back.
I’d pay up my debts and be a good “shack.”
So, now, Mr. Trainmaster, I guess I will go,
I have told you my sad little tale of woe.
It’s a job I’m in search of, and I’m not in fun,
But I’ll not refuse a piece of your “mon’,”
So if you have nothing for me to do
No more this little old rag will we chew.
With a happy heart I’ll go my way,
And call again some other day.

Denver, Col. - Hot Tamales.[*]

[* Hot Tamales seems to be the pen name of the person who submitted the poem to the editor.]